


Dancing Pair | Anonymous Commission

by Avistella



Category: Original Work
Genre: Friendship, Gen, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24973024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avistella/pseuds/Avistella
Summary: Eun and Morgan practice their dance for the upcoming ball, and Morgan opens up a bit to his friend.
Kudos: 1





	Dancing Pair | Anonymous Commission

**Author's Note:**

> Commission for Anonymous

Two pairs of footsteps fill the empty and quiet ballroom, the moonlight’s glow filtering in through the windows. Eun, with an almost excited bounce in her steps, turns around to face Morgan who’s following behind her at a distance. They lock eyes for a moment, and Eun flashes him her usual smile, encouraging him to come on over with a friendly wave of her hand.

Everybody else is fast asleep or otherwise busy with other tasks which gives both Eun and Morgan some time alone to themselves. They’ve decided to take it as an opportunity to practice dancing with each other for an upcoming ball as there isn’t any other time available. Well, technically speaking, there is _some_ time available to them during the day, but Morgan doesn’t want to take the risk of embarrassing himself with others seeing his lack of dancing skills.

“Come on,” Eun invites Morgan over, and they stop in the center of the ballroom. She turns to fully face him, and she offers out her hand. She waits for Morgan to initiate contact, not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

Morgan hesitates, staring at the hand stretched out to him. He doesn’t quite feel comfortable taking Eun’s hand as he doesn’t consider himself to be close to her, but just as the thought crosses his mind, he ends up thinking of Lucien as well as _his_ relationship with the young woman. The corners of Morgan’s lips fall into a slight frown when he remembers that Lucien will be attending the formal event as well. With obvious reluctance, Morgan reaches out and slowly accepts Eun’s hand.

Eun’s eyes widen slightly at the gesture, and her entire face beams. She knows full well about what this means for Morgan, and although she wants to thank him for trusting her like this, the look on his face makes her hold her tongue. He still isn’t at that level of comfort yet, she realizes, and she opts not to make a big deal out of it, much to Morgan’s relief.

The two position themselves accordingly with Morgan discreetly taking in a deep breath at the contact. Eun wants to comment how Morgan should be holding her with a firmer grip, she chooses not to push him and decides to make do with how things are right now. Eun takes a breath as well to prepare herself, and she signals the start of their dance.

“And… one, two… _three_.”

On the count of three, the two being to move around the room with Eun taking the lead. Her movements are graceful and experienced, a stark contrast from Morgan’s who’s stumbling around with his feet, messing up his steps while trying to avoid stepping on Eun. As he stares at their feet in an attempt to keep track of what to do next, his thoughts end up wandering towards Lucien. There’s no doubt in his mind that Lucien would fare much better than he currently is, and he understandably becomes more frustrated, prompting him to mess up even more.

Morgan just barely manages to miss Eun’s feet, and grumbles out a distracted apology. The young woman merely laughs, the lighthearted sound encouraging Morgan to finally lift his head and look at her. “It’s fine,” she assures him. “Try not to get impatient or frustrated and try to match my rhythm.”

Morgan nods his head, appreciating the advice and tries to do as instructed. Eun continues to guide him throughout, offering tips here and there which Morgan takes to heart, and slowly but surely, he starts to get the hang of it. He’s still glancing down at their feet, but he’s already doing so much better than before.

Eun can’t help but smile warmly at him. “You’re doing a good job,” she praises him, her sincerity obvious in her light tone. “I’m sure you’ll be great on the day of the ball.”

Her friend hums, sounding distracted. He makes a small comment underneath his breath, “I wonder if I would be as good as Lucien though…”

It was meant to be more of a comment to himself than anything else, but Eun still manages to catch it. Without stopping their dance practice, she decides to respond to his concerns. “You still have to put in more practice to reach Lucien’s level, but you’re still doing pretty good.”

Morgan’s eyebrows stitch themselves together in slight frustration. “ _Pretty good_ isn’t _good enough_ ,” he huffs. His mood, already sour prior to the start of all this, becomes even worse, and the frown on his face deepens.

If it’s any consolation to him, however, he supposes that there’s some satisfaction in knowing that at the very least, Eun will be dancing with him and not Lucien. As petty as it may have been, Morgan didn’t want to give Lucien the opportunity to dance with Eun, knowing how close the two are with each other. That’s why Morgan decided to approach Eun first, asking her to be his dance partner. He was surprised but still pleased when she accepted.

As he smugly thinks back to the time he asked Eun to be his partner, he then realizes that since she’s his partner, then that means that he himself has a partner accounted for and won’t be able to dance with Lucien on the day of the ball. The sudden realization hits him hard, and it makes him feel downhearted.

Eun seems to have noticed the shift in atmosphere around Morgan, and she can’t help but grow concerned. “What’s wrong?” she asks, hopeful that her friend will open up to her.

“…” Morgan doesn’t answer at first. It isn’t that he’s necessarily ignoring Eun, but rather, he’s contemplating as to whether or not he should answer to her. Although he’s reluctant to say what’s on his mind, in the empty ballroom in which only the two of them are in, Morgan feels a bit more comfortable. Surely, it won’t hurt to lay out his heart, right?

“I…” Morgan starts off with shaky and slight hesitation. He speaks slowly, like he’s trying to gather his thoughts. He’s filled with a feeling that he can’t quite describe as he admits, although in his own vague way, about his insecurities about and towards Lucien.

“I don’t want to lose to Lucien,” he confesses. “I want to be better than him in anything and everything, but he always waves me off with his stupid laugh.”

“Well, I mean, considering how much effort you put into the things you do, I’m sure you’ll be able to reach your goal.”

“But that’s the _thing_ ,” Morgan continues, sounding rather upset, his words now coming out more in a rush. “It isn’t just that I want to be better than him, but I want to be better _for_ him. I want to be better than Lucien, and I want him to realize that. I want him to _look at me_ and properly _see me_ , but it… It all feels useless to me. Like I’ll never be enough to beat him… Like I’ll never be enough _for_ him…”

Eun hums in deep thought. “You really do like him, huh?” She whispers.

Her words make Morgan stiffen up, and he falters for a second on his feet before catching himself. The small misstep is more than enough, and the two stop dancing, letting go of one another and taking one step back to put respectable distance between them once again.

Morgan stares hard at the floor in an attempt to hide his face and expression, refusing to meet Eun’s eyes. “I don’t like Lucien,” he answers in a much sharper tone than intended, and he inwardly cringes.

Eun’s laughter fills the room, and Morgan knows his lie had no effect on her. “It’s kind of hard to pretend you don’t like him when you say things like that,” she points out.

Morgan grumbles in embarrassment underneath his breath but otherwise doesn’t say anything further, afraid of having his voice betray him. Eun stares at him for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face. In truth, Eun was surprised by Morgan’s honesty and having him open up his heart to her. She had half-expected him to either dodge her or ignore her completely. Despite her surprise, however, she will admit that she feels extremely touched at the show of trust towards her, not just with him touching her, but with him also allowing her to listen to his thoughts.

She closes her eyes, feeling her heart flutter with a certain kind of giddiness. She opens her mouth to speak, hoping to offer her friend some words of support and encouragement. “You’re too hard on yourself,” she tells him. “You work hard, and it shows in your results. Everything you’ve done and accomplished so far isn’t just from luck but from the time and effort you put in. You have much more to yourself than you believe yourself to be, and I’m sure that Lucien has realized it and sees it too. I’m cheering for you.”

Morgan raises his head, a slight and awkward smile on his face that he offers to Eun. His heart feels lighter, and he finds himself feeling a bit better after hearing her say that. He offers her a clumsy word of thanks, feeling as though the distance between them has lessened, and it isn’t so bad.


End file.
